This week is a hop on a bloghop and I thank Neil Stenton for inviting me to be part of this ride, please see his post at http://www.koobug.com/NeilStenton?p1583

The previous link is that of exciting science fiction writer, Mark Iles, at

http://markiles.co.uk/the-blog

HOT OFF THE PRESS!

I’ve just heard from that great writer Brandon Crilly that he too is on a blog tour with the same questions below so here is his link:

http://brandoncrilly.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/100th-post-the-writing-process-blog-tour/

And here are two writers who passed it on to Brandon:

Michael Casteels: http://www.puddlesofskypress.com/5/post/2014/04/blog-tour.html

Sandra Stephenson: http://mostlyczam.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/blog-train/

1)    What am I working on?

I am toying with a prequel to science fiction trilogy, ARIA based on the unique concept of infectious amnesia. I love shorts and I am working on The Chaos of Mokii based on a city formed entirely in the consciousness of its inhabitants. It’s an entirely telepathic city and yet there is murder, mayhem, love gained and lost.

Xaghra’s Revenge is written and in the hands of literary agent, Rebecca Pratt. A friend in Malta suggests to me that a sequel could go along the lines of an alternate history fantasy where the Knights of Malta loses the Great Siege of 1565. That battle was deemed to have stemmed the tide of Islamic influences in Europe. Suppose the Ottoman corsairs won that battle? Perhaps Europe would have become Islamic leaving only the Americas as Christian. Would that have generated an Atlantic war? How would our culture be different? In spite of biased reporting in the popular press, there are many aspects of Islamic – sharia law that are more tolerant and reasonable than Vatican / Church of England traditions. Of course there are other differences that either side would find less palatable, but hey ho. And nowadays there are many Muslims in so-called Christian countries contributing positive aspects of multicultural lifestyles, but for me the alternate history consequences would make a fascinating story.

2)    How does my work differ from others in its genre?

Ah, this question is like that job interview where you have to say why you are better than all the other candidates. My fantasy stories tend to be about normal people to whom extraordinary things happen, (magic realism) such as the man who thought he was an amnesiac until he realizes he is a little girl’s imaginary friend. The science fiction I write is more unmagic realism verging on the improbable.

 

3)    Why do I write what I do?

The compulsion to write is so that others can share my madness, it would be a shame, otherwise, for it to go to waste. Yes, there’s plenty of weird stuff on Earth to base our fiction on – hence writing thrillers, but outside normality the scope is infinite.

 

4)    How does your writing process work?

I have a writing process? I have a warped mind, it becomes freshly oxygenated on steep hill cycle rides when ideas inveigle, ferment and cry. In a notebook, the germ is mindmapped, followed by a first chapter, maybe the last. The dribs are drabbed, lacerated and smartened in the BSFA critique group before being sent to my ‘oh no not Nelder again’ agent. It’s not over then. When a publisher accepts either a short story or a novel their editor works on it and suggests amendments on a copy of the document using MS Word’s Comment feature. After a little bat and ball it goes to the proofreader who generates more suggestions until we are all happy.

 

Links to my work

Some of my novels are listed on the international database of science fiction at http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/nelder_geoff

 

Geoff’s UK Amazon author page http://www.amazon.co.uk/Geoff-Nelder/e/B002BMB2XY

And for US readers http://www.amazon.com/Geoff-Nelder/e/B002BMB2XY

Website for Geoff Nelder is at http://geoffnelder.com

Twitter is http://www.twitter.com/geoffnelder

Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/AriaTrilogy

 

For the next leap in the blog hop pop along to the blog of Irish writer of fantasy especially The Zargothian Tales, Aidan Lucid, http://www.thezargothiantales.com/aidanlucidblog.html

And here is Aidan’s review blog http://thelucidfilmreview.blogspot.ie/